Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-08-22
AN EXCELLENT HEATING APPARATUS.

Description of the big Hess Furnaces
Which Have Been Placed in the Hig..
street school Building.
All credit to the board of education for
having given us the best system of heating
and ventilation in the High street building
that has ever been put in in Springfield
1t is pleasure to be able to say this after
the many rubs the REPUBLIC has fell
obliged TO give the board for some of its
past deeds.
Every citizen concerned in the health and
comfort of young children should give the
apparatus a personal inspection. Ii will
interest them and they will better appre-
ciate its value.
Three mammoth Hess Pure Air Furnaces
encased in one brick room stand in the cen
ter of the basement like battery of steam
boilers. From several cold air rooms
the out-of-door air is led by
large ducts directly under these
furnaces, whence it passes through thirty
six siX-inch cast iron air pipes which each
furnace contains: then it is delivered into
every room in large volumes. The ventil-
ating apparatus being made on the same
scale of perfection. there is a constant out
flow of foul and cold air from the floor.
Thus it will be seen that the scholars are
breathing pure, fresh and warm out-of-
door air only. As consequence, their
blood will be kept pure, their intellects
bright and their health good. And by the
perfect system of ventilation bad odOrs.
unhealthy breaths. or the germs OF disease
that may be sent off from the lungs Of a
sick or unhealthy child, are instantly car
ried away before harm can be done.
BY masSing these large furnaces together
the janitor is able Ia warm the entire
building with one fire only. in moderate
weather, firing the second one when the
mercury climbs down toward zero. The
third furnace WAS placed there merely by
the option of the contractors Ito make as
surance doubly sure" in case the two did
not heat the house properly without crowd
ing, for one OF the great points Mr.. Hess
claims is that the air should never be over
heated and he constructs his furnace in
such a manner that none of the radiating
surface can become red hot, pure air being
essential to good health.
The economy Of this arrangement Of the
furnace will be seen at glance, for in
nearly all our other schools every chilly day
each furnace and stove must have its hre,
though but little heat may be needed.
These big heaters are made entirely of
cast iron and steel. Each contains l44, 900
cubic inches of combustion chamber and
80, 900 square inches of heating surface.
The thirty-six air tubes-forty inches long
inside each furnace cross diagonsliy over
the fire. 1t will readily be seen what pow
erful fellows they are, and so much better
adapted to public buildings than the ordi-
nary furnace.
BY reason of their greater radiating sur
face they require very much less fuel
than the smaller kind. Their fire Innings
are perforated and made to burn any kind
of coal. hard or soft. the black smoke from
soft coal being entirely consumed.
One admirable feature they have intro
duced in connection with ventilation is a
device to let into the hot-air pipes supply
Of colder air, when the room becomes too
warm, which is controlled at the teachers
desk. This is better than shutting off the
heat. as it keeps up the supply of air. Mr.
George Ii. Coles and Mr.. J. p. Martindell
are eI titled % the credit of the introduction
of this system. they having made very
thorough investigation of the system As
used In other large cities and
urged its adoption here. 1t is TO be
hoped that the present board will not lose
sight of its advantages. while they are COL
sdering the heating of other buildings.
Such citizens as have seen il say that It is
much better TO spend the money for good
article that appears so substantial and eff
cient than TO fritter it away on experiments
OF buy any more of the same kind they
have and are condemning.